The 8 Tenets of Frugal Running

So, here's a bit of background into what the theme of this blog (and soon to be podcast) is about. The below list is not meant to be fully inclusive: I might have missed a few things or mischaracterized a couple. Additionally, not all of them may sound like the most frugal ways to approach this sport. However, as one of the tenets points out, there’s going to have to be a balance. There’s always going to be a way to cut back on spending on running related stuff, but there are points when the impact on performance and enjoyment are going to be too great. Also, not all of this is about running or about spending less money while doing so. This is part of a broader approach to life and a philosophy, but there’s no point in getting too highfalutin here. We’re here mostly to talk about our running: what we’ve learned and where we still need to grow.

What we present below are my proposed tenets of this philosophy known as ‘frugal running” and then you will see Sean’s response to them. We had a conversation about these ideas on 6/28/2022, and I’ve recorded, condensed, and edited Sean’s responses. Sean's responses are in italics.

1. Focus on Value. When considering any running/training related spending, focus on the value per dollar you get out of it. Since I’m an economist, I’m trained to think about marginal utility (the additional benefit) per dollar spent and then try to equalize those across all of my spending. This tenet can manifest itself in several ways. First, even if a local 5k is $20 as an entry fee, what really is the value that I’m going to get out of that race? Is it a chance to make connections/stay connected with my local running group? If so, then the value may be there, but a race t shirt from a local race that is raising money for causes I may not care about is probably not the best value proposition out there. Likewise, everything from gear to fuel can go through this value calculus. Just asking the question, how does this improve my life before deciding to spend on X (new shoes, local 5k, more fuel) because that dollar spent somewhere else could actually make a bigger difference in my happiness if I don’t spend it where I don’t value it.

What it comes down to is if you buy some product or service, does it improve life? Does it improve your race performance? So, you’re thinking about this $90 ultraspire waistbelt… what is the opportunity cost? One of the things I would maybe think about is, what is the return policy on this? As much as I bash REI for their hyper-inflated prices, they do let you return shit. So if REI carries it, that’s what I would think about. The key thing is to weigh everything out. I don’t have to worry about impulse purchases because I start from the premise that I don’t need it. I have to convince myself that I do need something. With running, I’m lucky because I’ve cut so many things out. I want to be as light as possible, as fast as possible, which means that I don’t want to slow down my pace to pull something out of my bag, that means more time. Sending a message to someone on my watch, that takes time. It comes down to what is the value of stuff when it ends up actually slows me down.

2. In-sourcing when possible. Much of the US economy is spent on services. We pay everyone from handymen/women to landscapers to do a lot of the work for us while if we spent the time to learn how to fix it ourselves/do it ourselves, we would grow by learning, develop useful skills and probably get more satisfaction. This goes from cooking to cleaning to yard work. I'm not saying I'll never outsource, but in general, I'll be happier when I in-source.

What about little things like this? Buying chopped up onions or whole onions? The grocery store is full of that shit. You’re facing this kind of shit all the time. Do I do it myself or have someone else do it for me? A little pint of pineapple chopped up is $6 while a pineapple is like $2.50… you said this before… it’s like you are paying to be more sedentary.

Sean at the finish of Screaming Monkey 100 in November.

3.Better to be undertrained than overtrained. When getting ready for an ultra, the FEAR OF DEATH can get you out the door to do those hard miles and hard workout sessions. In 2020, I gave myself a week to recover from a 100k, then trained really hard one week, and then tapered the last week before Loup Garou 100m. Big mistake. I’ve DNF’d a few races with undertraining, but I was fresh enough to keep that DNF as part of my training cycle. Training too hard wears out your gear, your brain, and your body and then you don’t have enough left for race day. Why waste the time and money just to get worse performance?

Why do people overtrain? Fear? I didn’t run any 20 milers between Rocky and Bighorn, but I have to admit that the quality of my training was better. Being overtrained not only increases the chance of injury but increases the time away from your family and those types of things. I remember doing those back to backs. I would think “man, I’m sure away from the wife and kid a lot.”Now I can wake up at 5:00 in the morning and get in that quality work out in and I’m not hurting anybody.

4. Preparation can save you time, money, and happiness. Everything that saves money can be done with a little more preparation and forethought. Saving money on meals comes down to a carefully planned shopping list and meal prep for the week ahead. Take your lunch instead of buying lunch out. (Taking your lunch is a big deal for me, but this sometimes will mean coming home for lunch.). Having set habits and a fixed routine also allows your brain to not have to make a decision about “what to do” every second of the day and allows your brain to focus on more creative activities and higher-level problem solving. Planning and preparation allows you to stick to that morning routine because the night before you went to bed early enough. Leaving your running clothes out for the morning means you don’t have to get over the cognitive hurdle of deciding to run (the shoes are already right there).

Honestly, I can’t say that I’m going to run on this day or that day. I know what I need to do… I give myself some flexibility. I prepare the day before what I want to do. I can’t tell you the last time I actually tracked my weekly mileage. I say I’m going to go out for like 6. Now I’m doing 6 miles every run. It is preparation… you know what you’re going to do and you do it.

Ward on the first climb of Bighorn 100

5. Live a life full of memories with friends and loved ones. While a lot of what we will describe involves saving money, the point (again) is to have money to spend on things that we value. Sean and I are pretty adventurous. Back in our college years we had planned to hitch-hike across the country and while family and life disrupted those plans, I think we still approach travel, running, and adventuring with that kind of spirit. I like seeing new places and (as I joke with Sean) doing some “epic shit” along the way.

Yeah, I couldn’t agree with that more. The key thing is simplifying your life so you have an epic moment in your life.

[Ward: one thing that I didn’t have as a tenet is the idea of addition through subtraction, but that’s throughout a lot of this. The more you cut out the things you don’t value, the more space you have for the things you do value.]

I have lived that motto for sooo long. It’s helped me out so much. I’m sure it’s caused me some conflict with people when I’ve just been like straight up “I don’t feel like doing that.” I’m only going to have four tabs open rather than 20 tabs. Ya' know what I mean?

6. Balance is the key. When given the choice between a second run and weight lifting session in the gym, I choose the weights. Strength can improve your race performance just as much as more time on the track or road. I cross train with bike riding, hiking, occasional swimming and kayaking, yoga and stretching and a lot of time in the gym. Being too focused on one activity shuts down the whole point which is to have a happy and fulfilled life.

Being too focused on one activity shuts down the whole point, which is to have a happy, fulfilled life. So that comes down to. We simplified our life, but I hope that doesn’t create a paradox where we have simplified our lives but hopefully we are not too focused on those things that then overshadow the things that make us happy and fulfilled.

7. If it’s not fun, then we’re probably not doing it. Sean is probably a better proponent than I am of this point, but the basic idea is if something sounds epic, it’s probably fun. If it just sounds like torture, then fuck that. I mean seriously. I live in South Mississippi, so there are nearby races in the Florida panhandle and the Alabama and Mississippi gulf coasts. We both grew up in Corpus Christi, so we know flat beach towns. And running on the sand just sucks ass. It just does. I’m not interested in any 100 miler than has me running on sand for more than 100 feet. Is it good training? Yes. Does it still suck ass?

If we just said TRACCK. Man that track is like. If I go run with my kids at 7:15, so I get to the school at 6:45 to do some 1 min, 2 min intervals. I was like FUUUCK. Running around my neighborhood is so much more fun than doing anything on the track. I’ll go down to town lake and I’ll see people doing track work at that track at Austin high and I’m like. Nope. Not here.

8. Ultrarunning is the apex of human achievement and purpose. This sounds grandiose as fuck, but there is something that happens to one’s mind and body after doing the same thing for 8, 10, 15, 20, 28 hours that simply cannot be achieved by doing crossword puzzles (a favorite of mine) or even a 3 hour session in the gym. I don’t want to say that it’s spiritual, but it kind of is. There’s a sort of “passing through” that happens to many of us (I’m borrowing that term from Haruki Murakami in his What I talk about when I talk about running.) If you get to experience it, your life may be changed. This probably happens with tour de france cyclists and mountain climbers attempting everest, but I’m not those folks. I’m me, and this is what I’ve found.

I couldn’t agree more. I like that word “Apex” For me, when I think about the apex of human achievement. I think of the things I’ve gone through in my life, growing up in the household I grew up in…all that GRIND stuff that don’t mean shit to me compared to running 100 miles. It’s an epic achievement.

Here are a couple caveats to the whole frugality thing.

Two things that I would like to add and I’m not sure if they are tenets or not–

1. Is this the cheapest way of doing things without being a burden?

2. If frugality causes a conflict don’t do it.

Ward: I wanted to say something about not being frugal for being frugality’s sake. We said this thing about camping. Why save $40 for the shared airbnb when you are going to sleep terribly and that’s going to completely screw up your race.

What I mean is like doing things on the cheap that may cost you more time in the race. Or just makes things uncomfortable. A lot of times. Think about this…there’s no way you could have gotten away with eating at subway three days in a row without causing conflict. Why cause the conflict for the sake of frugality? Why create that kind of burden? It’s like you have to measure that out. Definitely a big caveat.

Thoughts about these tenets? Anything you agree with disagree with? Leave a comment and stay in touch through social media below. These are my links, but I'll add Sean's too soon.